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Today's mail brought my first royalty cheque for writing crime fiction. Here is what it looks like to get paid.

Earning a living with words isn't new to me. What is new is getting paid for writing fiction. Someone, Todd Robinson, editor of Thuglit, decided to part with money so he could share my story with people who like to read crime fiction. That's not just cool. It matters.

As the universe would have it, today is also the day Chuck Wendig got some rant going in his Twitter feed about whether or not writers should care about money.

This one does. I care about getting published, about supporting my writing habit organically, and about finding readers who get enough of a kick out of the words I lay down to pay a couple bucks for the pleasure. (Even more importantly, to spend their time reading me.)

Mostly, I care about some kind of signal that all these hours cooped up in the smallest office I've ever occupied are not for naught. For that, here's the best thank you I can offer to Todd. Check out his new novel, THE HARD BOUNCE. And keep reading good noir.